Rain, Rain Go Away!

The weather is not cooperating with my plans to photograph my two latest finishes outdoors, so here's another recently finished project in the meantime. I've been trying not to sign up for any new swaps so that I can finish some of my UFOs - particularly a few larger projects I want to bring with me to the US in December. But I couldn't resist the seventh round of DQS! A month ago I posted a photo of the back and my inspiration for the colors. It's on its way over the Atlantic now!

I'm amazed at how my little flying geese tutorial brings so much traffic to my blog. I really should use it more often myself!

Harvest

Since I was in Finland most of the summer this year, I planted some tomatoes on my balcony. Slowly, but surely, they're ripening. Unfortunately, there's no room for cucumber plants, but I did buy some and gave pickle-making a try for the first time. I tried two different recipes for Claussen-like pickles (they are one thing I really miss here) and tried an Estonian friend's mom's recipe, too. In a month or two I'm going to have a little pickle party to see how my experiments turned out!

I'll have some quilt content tomorrow, especially if the weather cooperates for an outdoor photo!

IBOL

I really admire Kristin La Flamme's creative work and blog, and now her husband has organized a terrific project to provide various sewing/knitting/etc. items for people in Iraq.

I was especially motivated to participate once I saw that it's possible to mail a bundle to a friend of his in the Netherlands, so I finally got a few things together today, including some fabric, yarn, ribbon, thread, straight pins, and zippers. I hope that they will be useful to someone there!

The deadline for participating in this effort is September 7 and you can find out more information on the Iraqi Bundles of Love blog. If you don't have a stash that includes crafty things you can bear to part with, it's possible to purchase a bundle through Sew, Mama, Sew for only $15US!!

Winners!

I'm really glad I decided to have a third anniversary give-away, because I've won three give-aways in the past couple of weeks and it just seems right to repay Lady Luck! Here is one that arrived yesterday from Helen in Australia! Look at that cool label she made! Thanks!!

And now for the winners of my give-away: Karen in DC, Gina in South Wales, Vicki in Virginia, and my sock-knitting neighbor! Congratulations and thanks so much to everyone who commented!

PJS in Romania: You're set to "no-reply" so I can't email you directly, but would like to. Could you send me an email? Thanks!

Loops

It seems to be the season for give-aways! I was very lucky to win one celebrating four years of blogging at Knit One Quilt Too. It's one of my favorite blogs. Thanks, Kristin! I love the way the little house is smiling at me. :)

Speaking of give-aways, don't forget to leave a comment on Wednesday's post below before tomorrow morning Finland time to win one of my three small third anniversary prizes!

In terms of sewing, I've just managed to do a lot of loops this week - on a UFO and on the Zoo Animals. That sore throat from last weekend has lingered, but I'm determined that it won't ruin another weekend/week! Photos of the flip side of this quilt soon!

Zoo Animals

I promised to share the sources of inspiration for my newest project, so here they are: (1) Ashley of Film in the Fridge recently posted photos of a new quilt she's made using Marimekko's Karkuteillä fabric. I was reminded that I'd bought a remnant of this fabric in another colorway (and with the boots cut off) during my discount Marimekko shopping spree back in February, so I dug it out and got to work. (2) I love this brown polka dot fabric (the zebra is brown) even though the green isn't quite right, and I found some solids that matched the Marimekko fabric quite well. I wanted a simple back (or front) for this quilt and found my inspiration on the backs of these little quilts by Helen of Patchy Work of Mini Grey. Now I just need to find some ideas for quilting it! Any suggestions?

Don't forget to scroll down a bit and enter to win of my give-aways celebrating my third blogging anniversary!

Three Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today, I started this blog! I had no idea what I was getting into, but I'm glad I did, and I hope to keep it going! I've met some very cool, creative, and generous people and have collected more inspiration from the whole quilt/knit/craft blogging world than I could hope to use in a very long lifetime.

To celebrate reaching this three-year milestone, I've decided to have a GIVE-AWAY! Please comment on this post before Saturday morning Finnish time to be entered to win one of three small prizes. Please mention where you're from (just because I'm curious - I'm willing to mail anywhere) and mention which one of the three prizes you'd most like to win (or would least like to win - for example: I don't knit, please don't send me yarn!):

A. One of my stawberry miniquilts
B. Sock yarn from Finland
C. A small scrap bag of Marimekko fabrics

The Start of Something New

A sore throat got me down this weekend, but I did manage to start something simple. More photos and info on my inspiration coming soon!

Lite Textil Gör Stor Skillnad!

A little fabric makes a big difference! No sewing, but a lot of stapling involved in this project. The new fabric from Pentik is on the left. Behind the chairs are my new Billy shelves from IKEA. I love being able to hide my mess behind the doors! It feels like I have a whole new apartment! Yes, that's snow in the IKEA photo above. No, it's not snowing here. Yet. The photo is from my last trip to IKEA in Haparanda in February.

9 in 2oo9

My neighbor and I have officially reached our goal of knitting 9 pairs of socks each in 2oo9 - and it's only August! Next year we're planning 10 pairs of mittens in 2o10!

Another Oldie But Goodie

As the nights are getting darker here and the start of school looms, I'm trying hard to organize my sewing space so that it's easier to just sit down and work whenever I can squeeze in a little time. Part of this effort includes finishing up some lingering projects, so here's another Oldie-but-Goodie that I've finished up this week. I started these last summer and would love to do more with this idea in the future - pillows, a larger quilt... But at least now I've finished up the ones that had been pinned and waiting to be quilted (with pearl cotton), freeing up some more safety pins for the upcoming basting of this!

My Round Robin Arrived!

Here's the gorgeous Round Robin quilt that finally found its way to me!

Center: me
First border: Sharon
Second border: Julie
Quilting and binding: Jeanne

Thanks to everyone!!

I have been redecorating my living room this week (after a trip to IKEA to buy new shelves, meaning the old shelves have moved into the quilting room!) and this is now hanging above my Tikka sewing machine and next to this triptych!